Vettel studying Ricciardo data

Sebastian Vettel says he has been comparing race data between himself and Daniel Ricciardo this season but does not see one clear area of difference between the two.

Ricciardo's start at Red Bull has taken most onlookers by surprise, as he has outperformed Vettel in all but one race this season. By contrast Vettel has struggled to adapt quickly to the RB10, and has been asked to move over for Ricciardo twice this season, but he says the data suggests there is not a big contrast between the pair as there was in the later days of his partnership with Mark Webber.

"All the time," Vettel said when asked if he had been studying overlays. "Obviously he's been fairly quick, so you can imagine there have been corners where he's fairly quick! But it's good to see that and good to have a reference of what the car can do. If I look at myself it hasn't been the smoothest year but that's how it goes sometimes.

"Not really, no" he replied when asked if he could see a pattern. "You can't say in a certain type of corner he's gaining and losing in another, so not really. With Mark I think it's fair to say he was very, very good in high-speed corners, and showed me the limits sometimes, but it's fairly even - let's say - around the lap with Daniel."

Despite his sluggish start to the new campaign Vettel says Ricciardo's form so far is a source of motivation for the rest of the season.

"It is positive surprise. It's good to see he's getting on well with the team and doing a good job. I think we have similar preference in terms of the car in terms of set-up, there's not much difference we are running. It's encouraging to see him doing a good job. Obviously I've been struggling, he's doing a good job and it shows the potential of the car."